Study of Teacher Effectiveness: Two Sets Of Eyes Better Than One

There’s plenty to consider in the final report of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s* three-year Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) study, which was released Tuesday.

Here’s one of the interesting highlights: Researchers found it was better to have two different evaluators observe a classroom, rather than have one evaluator make multiple visits to watch the same teacher. Additionally, the study concludes that using multiple measures — test-score growth data, feedback from students, and the observations of teachers at work — also helped craft a fairer portrayal of a teacher’s effectiveness.

The MET project has been a source of contention and controversy from its inception. As Education Week’s Stephen Sawchuk notes:

Taken as a whole, the final MET findings provide much food for thought about how teacher evaluations might best be structured. But they are not likely to end a contentious, noisy debate about evaluation systems, and they are almost certain to be intensely debated, in part because of Gates’ separate support for advocacy organizations that have already staked out positions on teacher evaluations.

For the full background on MET, check out my EWA colleague Mikhail Zinshteyn’s write-up over at EdMedia Commons.

*The Gates Foundation is among a range of funders providing ongoing support to EWA.

Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Email EWA public editor Emily Richmond at erichmond@ewa.org. Follow her on Twitter: @EWAEmily.

Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Contact Emily Richmond. Follow her on Twitter @EWAEmily.

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Emily Richmond is the public editor of the Education Writers Association. She coordinates programming and training opportunities for members and provides individualized reporting and writing help to journalists. She also hosts the EWA Radio podcast, and authors EWA’s “The Educated Reporter” blog.